Trestle Table Complete

Article - October 13, 2010

This is my favorite part of every project: the end! As much as I love building projects, there’s just something about the day it leaves the shop that is so uplifting. Its like releasing a baby bird into the wilderness to take flight for the first time (or something equally poetic and meaningful)! Frankly, its a number of things, not the least of which is having a chance to clean up and start the next project, which I did. But before I show you the second project, let me throw down a few pictures of the trestle table.

Overall, I am very happy with the end result. The mahogany is rather light because its so new, but it will darken to a rich dark red over time. I’m in no rush so I didn’t use any stain. Some folks have already asked me, “Where do you put your legs???” Valid question, haha! Well, you may not be able to tell from the pictures, but when seated comfortably at the table, I have about 6″ between my knees and the cross-members. So no worries there. And I also thought ahead about my wife’s habit of putting her dirty little tootsies on things, so I went a little heavier with the finish on the cross-members.

This was definitely one of those “me” projects. That is, a project that aside from its original function, serves only to further my personal creativity. With The Wood Whisperer, I typically detour off into one area or another simply because I think it would be good for the show. Or I restrict myself in the tools I use because I want everyone to feel like they could make the project too. So its only once or twice a year, at best, that I get to design a project somewhat haphazardly “on the fly” and use whatever tools I think would be best for the job. As you’ll see in the upcoming video series, that’s exactly what I do. I think the last time I did this was in our End Table Series. So I was overdue.

After finishing up a big project like the Trestle Table, its always fun to do a quick simple project. So here’s a picture of Halloween ghost bowl I made from an Eagle America kit. The project took all of two days including building and finishing. So simple and so fun! If you are interested making a bowl like this, check out the Eagle America kits.

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